ELS MAGAZINE

History of
EnglisH

languagE
studiEs

PRECIOUS MARIE CARREON
REND ENDRIENNE CULABA
MICAH NICOLE GOMEZ
MARIA ERICA REYES
TRINA SANGUYO



Module 1

The Origins of English (before 450)

In 1861, historical linguist Max Müller published a list of speculative theories
concerning the origins of spoken language.
Bow-wow - The bow-wow or cuckoo theory, which Müller attributed to the
German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder, saw early words as imitations of
the cries of beasts and birds.
Pooh-pooh - The pooh-pooh theory saw the first words as emotional interjections
and exclamations triggered by pain, pleasure, surprise, etc.
Ding-dong - Müller suggested what he called the ding-dong theory, which states
that all things have a vibrating natural resonance, echoed somehow by man in his
earliest words.
Yo-he-ho - Claims language emerged from collective rhythmic labor, the attempt
to synchronize muscular effort resulting in sounds such as heave alternating with
sounds such as ho.
Ta-ta - This did not feature in Max Müller's list, having been proposed in 1930 by
Sir Richard Paget. According to the ta-ta theory, humans made the earliest words
by tongue movements that mimicked manual gestures, rendering them audible.

Germanic Languages

Germanic languages, branch of the Indo-European language family. Scholars often
divide the Germanic languages into three groups: West Germanic languages are
the most widely spoken in the world, with well over 500 million native speakers.
This language branch consists of a number of languages, including: Afrikaans,
Luxembourgish, Yiddish, Scots, English, German, and Dutch.; North Germanic
languages are sometimes referred to as the Nordic languages due to their main
geographic distribution. These languages are spoken in Norway, Sweden, Iceland,
Greenland, Finland, Denmark, and the Faroe Islands.; and East Germanic, now
extinct, comprising only Gothic and the languages of the Vandals, Burgundians,
and a few other tribes.

Indo-European languages are large language family native to western and
southern Eurasia. It comprises most of the languages of Europe together with
those of the northern Indian Subcontinent and the Iranian Plateau. A few of these
languages, such as English, French, Portuguese and Spanish, have expanded
through colonialism in the modern period and are now spoken across all
continents. The Indo-European family is divided into several branches or sub-
families, the largest of which are the Indo-Iranian, Germanic, Romance, and Balto-
Slavic groups.

Language change is the phenomenon by which permanent alterations are made
in the features and the use of a language over time. All-natural languages change,
and language change affects all areas of language use. Types of language change
are Lexical changes refers to a change in the meaning or use of a word, or a
generational shift in preference for one word or phrase over another it is
probably the most frequent type of language change and certainly the easiest to
observe., Phonetic and Phonological Changes the concept of sound change
covers both phonetic and phonological developments., Spelling Changes, for
centuries, there has been a movement to reform the spelling of English language.
It seeks to change English orthography so that it is more consistent, matches
pronunciation better, and follows the alphabetic principle. Semantic Changes are
shifts in the meanings of existing words. Basic types of semantic change include:
pejoration, a term's connotations become more negative, amelioration, a term's
connotations become more positive, broadening, a term acquires additional
potential uses, and narrowing, a term's potential uses are restricted. Syntactic
Changes a phenomenon creating a shift in language patterns over time, subject to
cyclic drift.

Key Points

• Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family,
the biggest language family in the world.

• West Germanic languages are the most widely spoken in the world, with
well over 500 million native speakers.

• Germanic languages developed from the Proto-Germanic language, which
began to develop sound changes during the Iron Age (around 500 BC).

• Germanic languages are divided into 3 branches: East, North, and West.
• English has not only borrowed words from other languages but has re-

combined and recycled them to create new meanings.
• French, Spanish, and Italian, known as the Romanic languages, all of them

having “descended” from the earlier “parent” language, Latin.
• Language change is the phenomenon by which permanent alterations are

made in the features and the use of a language over time.
• The branch of linguistics that is expressly concerned with changes in a

language over time is historical linguistics.

Germanic Unique words and Expressions

• abseil - descend by rope
• Anschluss - connection
• autobahn - an expressway
• automat - machine
• echt - true, genuine
• flak - judgment, criticism, back-talk

• fest - feast, celebration, party

• gesundheit - bless you
• nosh - food, or to eagerly eat food
• panzer - a type of German tank
• pitchblende - a mineral
• plunder - taking goods by force
• poltergeist - ghost
• prattle - utter sounds, meaningless chatter
• verboten - forbidden
• vorlage - a skiing position
• waltz - a formal dance
• wanderlust - pleasure, desire or longing to travel
• wunderkind - child prodigy
• zeitgeist - predominant mood of a certain timeframe or era

Rend Eadrienne Culaba

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN BRITISH

Anglo-Saxon England was early medieval England, existing from the 5th to the 11th
centuries from the end of Roman Britain until the Norman conquest in 1066. It
consisted of various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 927 when it was united as
the Kingdom of England by King Athelstan (r. 927–939). It became part of the short-
lived North Sea Empire of Cnut the Great, a personal union between
England, Denmark and Norway in the 11th century.
The Anglo-Saxons were the members of Germanic-speaking groups who migrated to
the southern half of the island of Great Britain from nearby northwestern Europe.

Anglo-Saxon history thus begins during the period of sub-Roman Britain following the
end of Roman control, and traces the establishment of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the
5th and 6th centuries (conventionally identified as seven main
kingdoms: Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex, and Wessex),
their Christianisation during the 7th century, the threat of Viking invasions and Danish
settlers, the gradual unification of England under the Wessex hegemony during the 9th
and 10th centuries, and ending with the Norman conquest of England by William the
Conqueror in 1066.

Old English language, also called Anglo-Saxon, language spoken and written
in England before 1100; it is the ancestor of Middle English and Modern English.
Scholars place Old English in the Anglo-Frisian group of West Germanic languages.

Four dialects of the Old English language are known: Northumbrian in northern England
and southeastern Scotland; Mercian in central England; Kentish in southeastern
England; and West Saxon in southern and southwestern England. Mercian and
Northumbrian are often classed together as the Anglian dialects. Most extant Old
English writings are in the West Saxon dialect; the first great period of literary activity
occurred duringthe reign of King Alfred the Great in the 9th century.

Late Middle English: Stabilising a Language

By around 1430, official documents once written in French started to appear in English.
The English language was emerging around its London dialect, known as the Chancery
Standard. It was by the mid-fifteenth century that the Chancery Standard started to be
used for all official purposes — with the notable exception of the Church (which
continued to use Latin). Through the help of such persons as William Caxton (who
introduced the printing press to England in the 1470s) and Richard Pryson (the first
English-language publisher in the country) the language fully standardised to
the Chancery Standard towards the end of the 15th century. This uniform language
came to be accepted throughout England, with the first translation of the bible
appearing in 1535 and marking the beginning of Modern English.

Early Modern English (Shakespearean)

Early Modern English formed during the late 15th century and continued through to the
mid-to-late 17th century. As James I came to the throne in 1603 the English standard
began to influence what was both spoken and written in the UK, including Middle Scots
in Scotland. The texts made around this period are surprisingly understandable to
readers today, although there are still stark differences with contemporary English.

Early Modern English is also known as Shakespearean English, thanks to it being the
tongue of the country’s most important writer. The 37 plays written by Shakespeare
during this period had a great impact on the English language. While the Bard has been
widely recognized as an iconic writer for his creativity, style and the complexity of his
characters, he also created more than 1,500 words, many of which are common
expressions still used today.

Sentence Structure

In theory, Old English was a "synthetic" language, meaning inflectional endings
signaled grammatical structure and word order was rather free, as for example in Latin;
modern English, by contrast, is an "analytic" language, meaning word order is much
more constrained

Middle English

After the Norman conquest in 1066, Old English was replaced, for a time, by Anglo-
Norman as the language of the upper classes. This is regarded as marking the end of
the Old English or Anglo-Saxon era, as during this period the English language was
heavily influenced by Anglo-Norman, developing into a phase known now as Middle
English. The conquering Normans spoke a Romance langue d'oïl called Old Norman,
which in Britain developed into Anglo-Norman. Many Norman and French loanwords
entered the local language in this period, especially in vocabulary related to the church,
the court system and the government.

As Normans are descendants of Vikings who invaded France, Norman French was
influenced by Old Norse, and many Norse loanwords in English came directly from
French. Middle English was spoken to the late 15th century. The system
of orthography that was established during the Middle English period is largely still in
use today. Later changes in pronunciation, however, combined with the adoption of
various foreign spellings, mean that the spelling of modern English words appears
highly irregular.

Early Modern English
Furthermore there are intrusive consonants in Early Modern English. They
appeared in certain phonetic environments. The intrusive /b/ sometimes appeared after
/m/ and before /l/, /r/, or /n/. For example: the OE bremel became the EmodE bramble
or another example the OE næmel became EmodE nimble.

Long vowels

Exceptions to the Great Vowel Shift

Effect of following /r/ (can lower preceding vowel)
-/o/ didn’t rise to /u/: floor
-/ε:/ didn’t rise to /i/: wear, bear, tear, pear

-train wreck: pair, pare, pear
-but: ear, hear, etc.

-/ε:/ sometimes shortened before the GVS happened
-death, deaf
-bread, head

-/u/ sometimes shortened to /U/ after the GVS happened
-words where it shortened early joined /U/->/^/ (cut)
-flood, blood: /o/ -> /u/ -> /U/ -> /^/
-words where it shortened later missed the boat (or the but) and stayed at /U/
-good and book: /o/ -> /u/ -> /U/

Early Dictionaries

The first English dictionary, A Table Alphabeticall, was compiled by English school
teacher, Robert Cawdrey and published in London in 1604. However, it was found
rather unreliable.
The first edition of the dictionary was just 120 pages long and contained only 2,543
words, many of which were obscure.
The primary focus of Cawdrey’s work were those words he thought of as ‘hard’ for the
general public because they had foreign roots. This meant that most common words
were not included.

Irregular plural nouns
are nouns that do not become plural by adding -s or -es, as most nouns in the English
language do. You’re probably familiar with many of these already. For example, the
plural form of man is men, not mans. The plural form of woman is women,
not womans. There are hundreds of irregular plural nouns, and in truth, you must
memorize them through reading and speaking. There are, however, some common
patterns to look out for.

The Most Common Irregular Plurals

Nouns ending in -f and -fe

To make a plural of a word ending in -f, change the f to a v and add es. Similarly, if a
word ends in -fe, change the f to a v and add an s. The result for both types is a plural
that ends in -ves. This spelling arose because of the difficulty of
pronouncing f and s together in English (an attempt to do this will produce a v sound).

HIS- Genitive

The his genitive is a means of forming a genitive construction by linking two nouns
with a possessive pronoun such as "his" (e.g. "my friend his car" instead of "my friend's
car"). This construction enjoyed only a brief heyday in English in the late 16th century
and the 17th century, but is common in some of the dialects of a number of Germanic
languages, and standard in Afrikaans.

Group Genitive

The ‘group genitive’ occurring expressions such as the king of England’s daughter is
first found in English texts of the late fourteenth century. In this paper, the relationship
between the syncretism of cases and the appearance of this new genitive is
investigated, as well as the relationship between the new construction and ‘separated
genitives’ such as Adam his son. A systematic examination of Middle and Early Modern
English texts yields evidence that the group genitive could not have been a reanalysis of
the separated genitive, as has sometimes been suggested, and suggests that the
separated genitive of Middle English was an orthographical variant of the old inflectional
genitive (although a different analysis must be given for some Early Modern English
texts). The evidence suggests that the group genitive developed when the old
inflectional genitive (e)s was generalised to all noun classes and became reanalysed as
a clitic.

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns are pronouns that are associated primarily with a
particular grammatical person – first person (as I), second person (as you), or third
person (as he, she, it, they). Personal pronouns may also take different forms
depending on number (usually singular or plural), grammatical or natural gender, case,
and formality. The term "personal" is used here purely to signify the grammatical
sense; personal pronouns are not limited to people and can also refer to animals and
objects (as the English personal pronoun it usually does).

Key Points

 Anglo-Saxon England was early medieval England, existing from the 5th to the
11th centuries from the end of Roman Britain until the Norman Conquest in
1066.

 Anglo-Saxon history thus begins during the period of sub-Roman Britain
following the end of Roman control.

 Old English language, also called Anglo-Saxon, language spoken and written
in England before 1100; it is the ancestor of Middle English and Modern
English.

 Four dialects of the Old English language are known: Northumbrian in
northern England and southeastern Scotland; Mercian in central England;
Kentish in southeastern England; and West Saxon in southern and
southwestern England.

 Early Modern English is also known as Shakespearean English
 Old English was a "synthetic" language,
 After the Norman Conquest in 1066, Old English was replaced, for a time, by

Anglo-Norman as the language of the upper classes.
 The first English dictionary, A Table Alphabetical, was compiled by English

school teacher, Robert Cawdrey and published in London in 1604.
 Irregular plural nouns are nouns that do not become plural by adding -s or -

es, as most nouns in the English language do.
 Personal pronouns are pronouns that are associated primarily with a particular

grammatical person – first person (as I), second person (as you), or third
person (as he, she, it, they).

List 10 unique words

 Gutted- extremely
 Narky- irritable
 Fluke- An unlikely chance occurrence
 Tosser- stupid,
 Dodgy- dishonest or unreliable
 Skive- to avoid work or school by stay away
 Nicked- steal
 Chuffed- pleased or happy
 Kip- a sleep or nap
 Tad- a small amount

MODULE 3
ThE EngLish LangUagE in nOrTh aMErica













THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE IN ASIA

Module 4

PRECIOUS MARIE CARREON

I. This module
is all about
the English
language in
Asian
countries. Its
history,
where it came
from, who
brought it,
how it is
spoken and
how it is use.

2

The English Language in Asia

The emergence of English language in Asia may be the result of
migration and colonization.
Migration- of many people from the South and Eastern part of
England, to America and Australia.
Colonization- of Asia and Africa, that led to the development of a
number of second language varieties. Example of this, the
colonization of America in the Philippines.

There are few native English speakers in Asia, but a large number of population
use English as a second language or third language. India, Nepal, Pakistan,
Philippines and Singapore all recognize English as an official language. India is
the most populous state that uses English in an official capacity. The exact
number of people who can speak English is hard to ascertain due to the large
diverse population, but it is estimated that there are 125 million in India, 94
million in Pakistan, and 90 million in the Philippines. This is not to say that the
rest of asia cannot commerce with English.

3

Philippine English

Filipinos were first introduced to English when the British invaded Manila and
Cavite in 1762, but this occupation had no lasting effect on English in the
country. A national variety called Philippine English evolved eventually, as a
result of the American colonization, and was arguably one of the fastest to
develop in the postcolonial world. Its origins as an English language spoken by a
large segment of the Philippine population can be traced to the American
introduction of public education, taught in the English medium of instruction.
With the successful establishment of American-style public education having English as
a consequential medium, more than 20% of the Philippine population were reported to
be able to understand and speak English just before the turn of mid-20th century.

 Philippine Laws and court decisions are written solely in
English.

 In the Philippines aside from the laws and court decision
the higher education, religious affairs, print and
broadcast media and businesses also used English
language.

 Since Philippine English or Filipino English is a result of
American Colonization we traditionally follows
American English.

https://www.google.com.ph/amp/s/www.worldatlas.com/amp/articles/en
glish-speaking-countries-in-asia.html

4

Singapore English

Singapore had been colonized by the United Kingdom (UK) in the 19th
century when Sir Stamford Raffles founded the part of Singapore as a
trading post for the East India Company in 1819 and became separated
and independent from Malaysia in 1965.

Singapore English is a dialect of the English
language that is used in the Republic of Singapore,
a lingua franca influenced by Chinese and Malay. Also
called Singaporean English.
Educated speakers of Singapore English generally
distinguish this variety of the language
from Singlish (also known as Singapore Colloquial
English). According to Dr. Danica Salazar, world English
editor at the Oxford English Dictionary, "Singapore
English is not the same as Singlish. While the former is a
variant of English, Singlish is a language on its own with
a different grammatical structure. It is also used mostly
orally" (reported in the Malay Mail Online, May 18,
2016).

Singapore’s Bilingual Education
Policy

 Practiced since 1960

 According to Rubdy, 2001 the Singaporean
government launched this with an ever increasing

5

emphasis on the use of English. Since the country has
3 major ethnic languages:
1. Chinese (Mandarin)
2. Tamil
3. English
 All subjects except the mother tongue classes are
instructed in English.
 Therefore currently, English is the language of
education in all levels various sectors of the
Singaporean society including public administration,
education commerce, science and technology (Lin,
2002).
 Letters and workplace document in government offices,
business contracts, and public signs are written in
English.
 The English language is now the most popular medium of
communication among students from primary school to
university.

https://www.thoughtco.com/singapore-english-and-singlish-1691962

6

Indian English
• India was British Colony

Indian English is speech or writing in English that
shows the influence of the languages and culture
of India. Also called English in India. Indian English
(IndE) is one of the oldest regional varieties of
the English language.
• English is India’s most important language.

• English symbolizes mind, better
education, better culture and higher intellect
for Indians.

• English is one of the 22 official languages
recognized by the Constitution of India.

https://www.thoughtco.com/indian-
english-inde-1691056

7

Key Points

• The English Language in Asian countries
differs in the pronunciation of words.
Because it depends in the country that it is
spoken. Example the stress of words, their
spelling and the accent of the person
speaking.

• Most of the Asian countries uses English in
communication, business affairs and in their
educational systems.

• Asian countries had their first languages, but now
English is commonly use in their everyday lives.
• English language became unique at some Asian
countries because It is mix with the country’s first
language.

8

Asian unique words and
expressions

1. Subah Bakhair- in India this word
means “good morning”.

2. Kilig- this is a Filipino word that means
or expressing a thrilling feeling because
of romance.

3. Aap ka nam kia hai- an Inidian word
that means “what is your name?”.

4. Thong- in Thailand this does not mean
an underwear. This word means a
number of things, one of this is gold.

5. Pinakanakapagpapabagabag-
damdamin- a Filipino word, yes this is a
word though it has 32 letters and it is
long, it is considered one word. This
means upsetting feeling.

9

6. Bap meogeosseoyo- a Korean
expression that means “How are you?”.
This is used to express concern towards
other people.

7. Do not disturb, tiny grass is sleeping- a
Chinese expression that can be seen
often in signages that means “kindly do
not step on the grass”.

8. Jodoh- in Indonesia this means
soulmate or destiny. It was said that it
does not have an english translation,
but it represent “something that is just
meant to be”.

9. LÊ- in Vietnam this word describes “the
teardrops with a deep sorrow”.

10. Hak paeng gan- an expression from Lao
that is similar to “ I treasure our
friendship”. It is said that you can hear

10

this when you have an enjoyable time
with an Lao people.
11. Brew and drink the dirt under
someone’s fingernails- a Japanese
expression that means you have the
best qualities that someone wishes to
have.
12. Selamat-malam- a Brunei greetings of
good morning.
13. Shukuriyaa- in Maldives this word
means thank you.
14. Kshama pau- in Nepal this means
excuse me.
15. Mero naam … ho- in Nepal when you
introduces yourself you can say this
phrase because this means “my name
is”.
16. Nosebleed - in the Philippines this is an
expression when they cannot follow or

11

understand much what the other
people is saying. This does not literally
means that there is a blood coming out
from the nose.

References

https://www.17-minute-world-
languages.com/en/nepali/

https://www.travelonline.com/maldives/lan
guage

https://www.tripadvisor.com.ph/Travel-
g293937-s604/Brunei-
Darussalam:Important.Phrases.html

12

https://www.1stopasia.com/blog/8-
interesting-words-phrases-of-asia/

13

14

Reyes, Maria Erica M.
BAELS-1A

GLOBAL ENGLISH

The

ENGLISH LANGUAGE

in the

World

The development of English as a global
language is one of the most remarkable
phenomena of the late 20th and early
21st centuries.
For the first time in the history of human
society, a single language has become
sufficiently universal that it can be used
as a global lingua franca for
communication between speakers of
many languages.
The history of English has traditionally
been divided into three main phases: Old
English (450-1100 AD), Middle English
(1100-circa 1600 AD) and Modern English
(since 1600). But it seems that Global
English represents a new and fourth
phase in which its main use around the
world is between non-native speakers -
a phase of its history which has only just
begun and in which both the status and
linguistic form of the language are
rapidly developing.

In the next 10-15 years we may
witness a situation that has been
much discussed since the nineteenth
century, in which the majority of the

world's population can speak English.
Although Global English is largely a product of economic globalisation and very recent
developments in communications technology (and indeed has helped accelerate both), the wider
roots of English as a world language lie much further in the past.
Some point to the first English colonies in Wales and Ireland in the 12th century, or to the late 17th
century when English-speaking settlements were established in North America and the slave trade
brought cheap labour from Africa. But it was largely the British colonial expansion in the 19th
century which helped establish the large communities in which English now serves as a second
language - in West and East Africa, South and South-East Asia.
New varieties of English - often referred to as New Englishes - quickly emerged from contact with
local languages. Indeed, by the end of the nineteenth century there was concern that these New
Englishes were diverging so much from native-speaker varieties that English would become a
group of mutually unintelligible languages - in the same way as Spanish, French and Italian evolved
from Latin. In other words, World English might have been no more than a celebration of diversity,
like World Music, rather than the global lingua franca which it has also become.

Misconceptions about Global English

The expansion of English worldwide tends to be both seen and marketed uncritically, as a
universally relevant lingua franca and medium of education. English is marketed as a lingua nullius,
for instance in British promotion of English as a universal 'basic skill' Privileging English intensifies
the gaps between the world's haves and have-nots.

THE IMPORTANCE OF ENGLISH

English is the language of science, of aviation, computers, diplomacy, and tourism. Knowing
English increases your chances of getting a good job.
Let’s look at the top 4 reasons why studying English is so important:

1. English is the Language of International Communication
English is the official language of 53 countries and spoken by 400 million people. It is the most
common second language in the world. The British Council projects that by 2020 two billion people
will be studying English. Learning English enables you to communicate easily with your fellow
global citizens.

2. English is the Language of Business
Cross-border business communication is most often conducted in English. Global companies
such as Airbus, Daimler-Chrysler, Fast Retailing, Nokia, Renault, Samsung, SAP, Technicolor, and
Microsoft in Beijing, have mandated English as their official corporate language.

3. Speaking English gives you Access to a World of Entertainment
LC's social programme is designed to encourage students to use and learn English in British
culture. Activities include watching popular English films, sports, art galleries, museums and trips.

4. Learning English gives you Access to more of the Internet
According to a report by Education First, English is the language of the internet. An estimated 565
million people use the internet every day. Learning English gives you access to billions of pages of
information which may not be otherwise available.

The future of global english

Linguistic history shows us repeatedly that it is wise to be cautious, when making predictions
about the future of a language. In the Middle Ages, people would have laughed in your face if you
had predicted the death of Latin as the language of education. A week may be a long time in
politics; but a century is a short time in linguistics.

ENL, ESL and EFL

ENL

Native Englishes include American English, Australian English, British English, Canadian English,
Irish English, New Zealand English, Scottish English, and Welsh English. ENL countries established
when large numbers of English speakers migrate from other English speaking countries. Other
countries, such as Fiji, Ghana, India, Singapore, and Zimbabwe use English as a second language
(ESL)

ENL Varieties
English varies markedly from one ENL territory to another, and often from one region to another.
It is risky to classify a territory as ENL and leave it at that, the ENLhood of a place.

ESL

Teaching English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different
native languages. The aspect in which English is taught is referred to as Teaching English for
speakers of other languages. Methods of learning English are highly variable depending on the
student's level of English proficiency and the manner and setting in which they are taught. In some
programs, educational materials are provided in English, and a mixture of English and student's
native language. Without proper cultural immersion, the associated language habits and reference
points of the host country are not completely transferred through these programs. The major
engines that influence the language are the United States and the United Kingdom. Variants of the
English language also exist in both of these countries. In countries where English is not usually a
native language, there are two distinct models for teaching English. English is also taught as a
second language for recent immigrants to English-speaking countries.

EFL
EFL is the term used to describe the study of English by non-native speakers in countries where
English is not the dominant language. EFL loosely corresponds with the Expanding Circle Theory

of language. According to this theory, there are three concentric circles of World English. The
circles represent the different tiers of World Englishes. As English spreads globally, more countries
are added to the circles as English is used more and more widely. The distinction between second
language and foreign language is not a sharp one, as Charles Barber explains.
The case of English in Indonesia is a unique one because experts can't quite agree on whether
English should be considered a foreign language or a second language in this Asian country. The
reason why has to do with how English came to be spoken and how it is primarily used. The
Handbook of World Englishes addresses the dispute: "Indonesia, a former Dutch colony, used to
emphasize the teaching of Dutch...
The movement towards English as a foreign language began at independence, and English is now
the main foreign language being learned in Indonesia. English is taught for eight or nine years from
primary school (from Grade 4 or 5) through high school (Renandya, 2000). The main objective is to
provide reading skills to enable Indonesians to read science-related materials in English,"
(Bautista and Gonzalez 2006).
English as a Medium of Instruction
The way that English is taught in a given country plays a key role in determining what variety of
English is spoken there. For example, if the majority of students have spoken English since birth
and you teach exclusively in English, you know that you are dealing with an ENL country. Ultimately,
writer Christopher Fernandez argues, English is only considered a medium of instruction in
education and government in ESL or ENL contexts, not EFL.
"Although ESL (English as Second Language) and EFL (English as Foreign Language) are often
used interchangeably, there are unique differences between the two. ... ESL countries are nations
where the medium of instruction in education and government is in English, although English may
not be the native language.
On the other hand, EFL countries do not use English as a medium of instruction but English is
taught in schools. Malaysia was once considered an ESL country but now leans more towards EFL.
The methods and approaches of teaching English as a second language and foreign language do
differ greatly," (Fernandez 2012).

ESL and EFL Teaching
So how do the methods of teaching English as a second language and as a foreign language differ?
English as a second language is learned in environments where English is already regularly spoken;
English as a foreign language is learned in environments where English is not spoken. Lee
Gunderson et al. explain: "ESL and EFL instructional approaches differ in significant ways. ESL is
based on the premise that English is the language of the community and the school and that
students have access to English models.
EFL is usually learned in environments where the language of the community and the school is not
English. EFL teachers have the difficult task of finding access to and providing English models for
their students. ... As the number of ESL students has increased in schools across North America,
more classrooms and schools have become more like EFL than ESL environments," (Gunderson et
al. 2009).
EFL is usually learned in environments where the language of the community and the school is not
English. EFL teachers have the difficult task of finding access

Keypoints

 The development of English as a global language is one of the most remarkable phenomena of the
late 20th and early 21st centuries.

 For the first time in the history of human society, a single language has become sufficiently universal
that it can be used as a global lingua franca for communication between speakers of many
languages.

 The history of English has traditionally been divided into three main phases: Old English (450-1100

AD), Middle English (1100-circa 1600 AD) and Modern English (since 1600).

 New varieties of English - often referred to as New Englishes - quickly emerged from

contact with local languages.

 English would become a group of mutually unintelligible languages - in the same way as

Spanish, French and Italian evolved from Latin.

20 English Unique words

Argute — shrewd
Aspergillum — an implement used for sprinkling holy water in religious ceremonies
Bashment — a large party or dance
Bawbee — Scottish a coin of low value
Canorous — melodious or resonant
Cantillate — to chant or intone a passage of religious text
Deasil — clockwise or in the direction of the sun’s course
Deterge — to cleanse something thoroughly
Effable — able to be described in words.
Flatline — to die
Gallus — Scottish bold or daring
Habile — deft or skilful
Hallux — Anatomy the big toe
Incrassate — thickened in form or consistency
Incunabula — books printed before 1501
Jumentous — resembling horse’s urine
Keek — to peep surreptitiously
Lactarium — a dairy
Martlet — a small, swallow-like bird with tufts of feathers in place of legs and feet
Natation — swimming